Spring always seems really insane: I think the stir-craziness everyone's been feeling all winter finally peaks in late March/early April, and, if we're lucky, the weather turns nice and people are able to break their solitariness, go outside and run around. Everyone seems to drive faster and smile more when the weather first turns nice.
Work at my newish job has been good, but super busy. It's not a perfect job--it pays so !*&^% little that I feel like I'm being taken advantage of--but I like my boss(es) generally and I like doing something in my field. If only it paid more and was a little less research-y and a little more...public-y. Alas, it is not my perfect job. I honestly doubt the perfect job exists in this state.
Actually, there's been a lot I've been thinking about in relation to both my job, the direction of Public Health and health care and where I think I fit into this giant fucking mess we've created/was created for us....but more on that at a different time, when I'm in a more reflective mood.
On a completely unrelated note, Sunday marked the third anniversary of my first date with Scientist. Who would've thought three years later we'd be married and living so far away from the town in which we met?
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
New Yawk and Other Trips Further East
Over Easter weekend Scientist and I made the short trip up to New York to see the city. I have been to a fair number of places, but somehow New York had been one of the places in the US I'd failed to see.
So, despite the face that we had just made a very expensive purchase, which we've had very little time to enjoy due both this trip and the work, we saddled up and headed out.
We saw pretty much everything we could have hoped to see in 3 days: the Brooklyn Bridge (on an extremely windy day no less), Wall Street, Soho (including PURL, where I bought some great yarn for my first sweater), Times Square, improv at The Upright Citizens Brigade and Central Park. I was really impressed at a) how clean the city was compared to other larger cities I've been to and b) how incredibly nice everyone was to us.
One of the highlights of our trip was our fabulous and elegant dinner at Gramercy Tavern. In addition to the great atmosphere and food (I had foie gras for the first time ever), the people watching was top notch. In fact, I heard the couple next to us get into a fight, which ended in the woman making a dramatic exit to the bathroom as her cheese course arrived. I felt bad for eavesdropping, but the temptation was just too great for me NOT to listen.
NYC was awesome--better than I expected, actually--and exhausting. I realize we didn't even come close to seeing all the things I wanted to see, so hopefully we'll be able to fit in another couple trips before we leave Morgantown.
In other travel related news, Scientist and I bought tickets this week to go see my dad in China next September. He'll be getting married, and while there won't be a formal ceremony, we decided this is a good time to go see him and meet his new wife. I'm excited, although the prospect of a non-stop 14 hour flight fills me with dread. Nevertheless, this will be an epic trip (we'll be gone 16 days) and I'm excited about seeing a country and experiencing a culture far removed from any of the other places/cultures I've ever seen.
So, despite the face that we had just made a very expensive purchase, which we've had very little time to enjoy due both this trip and the work, we saddled up and headed out.
We saw pretty much everything we could have hoped to see in 3 days: the Brooklyn Bridge (on an extremely windy day no less), Wall Street, Soho (including PURL, where I bought some great yarn for my first sweater), Times Square, improv at The Upright Citizens Brigade and Central Park. I was really impressed at a) how clean the city was compared to other larger cities I've been to and b) how incredibly nice everyone was to us.
One of the highlights of our trip was our fabulous and elegant dinner at Gramercy Tavern. In addition to the great atmosphere and food (I had foie gras for the first time ever), the people watching was top notch. In fact, I heard the couple next to us get into a fight, which ended in the woman making a dramatic exit to the bathroom as her cheese course arrived. I felt bad for eavesdropping, but the temptation was just too great for me NOT to listen.
NYC was awesome--better than I expected, actually--and exhausting. I realize we didn't even come close to seeing all the things I wanted to see, so hopefully we'll be able to fit in another couple trips before we leave Morgantown.
In other travel related news, Scientist and I bought tickets this week to go see my dad in China next September. He'll be getting married, and while there won't be a formal ceremony, we decided this is a good time to go see him and meet his new wife. I'm excited, although the prospect of a non-stop 14 hour flight fills me with dread. Nevertheless, this will be an epic trip (we'll be gone 16 days) and I'm excited about seeing a country and experiencing a culture far removed from any of the other places/cultures I've ever seen.
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Keen on Yarn
As any and all of you who are friends with me on Facebook know, in the last several months I've become obsessed with knitting. Maybe "obsessed" is strong word; let's say I've become keen on on it.
I don't know what it is about knitting I love so much. Maybe it's the idea that I've finally found something I can do that doesn't fill me with a sense of inadequacy like writing does (although nothing is more fulfilling than a good writing day), or studying Russian. Or perhaps it's ying/yang nature of knitting: one needs to be both methodical (pay attention to patterns, plan for how much yarn you need, etc) and creative at the same time (there are endless number of wacky things you can find patterns for on the internet). I suspect that what I love most about knitting is the yarn, though.
This is actually my second shot at knitting. I first attempted it when we moved here; I had no friends, we lived in a kinda shitty apartment, and I felt like I was watching way too much TV. That attempt was short lived--I lost interest and gave it up after a few weeks.
This time though, I think I'm going to stick with it. I started out making a blanket for Sophie, and then moved on to bookmarks (I sent my first one to my dad in China). Now, I'm making washcloths for my mother's new house and a friend's birthday, as well as a gorgeous checkerboard pattern type scarf for Scientist. People LOVE knitted gifts, and non-knitters and wanna be knitters seem to be uber appreciative of the time and effort it takes to make them a knitted gift.
When we head to New York at the end of the week I'm going to make my biggest purchase yet at Purl, a knitter's mecca located in Soho. I'm thinking it's time to make myself something, and that something will most likely be hoodie in the loveliest, richest shade of expensive purple yarn I can find.
I don't know what it is about knitting I love so much. Maybe it's the idea that I've finally found something I can do that doesn't fill me with a sense of inadequacy like writing does (although nothing is more fulfilling than a good writing day), or studying Russian. Or perhaps it's ying/yang nature of knitting: one needs to be both methodical (pay attention to patterns, plan for how much yarn you need, etc) and creative at the same time (there are endless number of wacky things you can find patterns for on the internet). I suspect that what I love most about knitting is the yarn, though.
This is actually my second shot at knitting. I first attempted it when we moved here; I had no friends, we lived in a kinda shitty apartment, and I felt like I was watching way too much TV. That attempt was short lived--I lost interest and gave it up after a few weeks.
This time though, I think I'm going to stick with it. I started out making a blanket for Sophie, and then moved on to bookmarks (I sent my first one to my dad in China). Now, I'm making washcloths for my mother's new house and a friend's birthday, as well as a gorgeous checkerboard pattern type scarf for Scientist. People LOVE knitted gifts, and non-knitters and wanna be knitters seem to be uber appreciative of the time and effort it takes to make them a knitted gift.
When we head to New York at the end of the week I'm going to make my biggest purchase yet at Purl, a knitter's mecca located in Soho. I'm thinking it's time to make myself something, and that something will most likely be hoodie in the loveliest, richest shade of expensive purple yarn I can find.
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